Interviewing My Characters

[rj_anderson]

As I'm struggling through the opening chapters of First Draft in 30 Days I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of interleaving Karen Wiesner's method with Randy Ingermanson's snowflake method, especially as the former seems highly plot-driven and I like the more character-centric approach of the latter.

Anyway, one of the exercises I'd like to try is that of interviewing my characters. But in order to get them "talking" and find out more about them, I need to think of some good questions to ask them -- and to avoid "leading the witness" by asking them questions which I already know relate directly to the plot. So that's where you come in...

Give me one question to ask my characters in an interview that you think will help me really get to know them better.

Those of you with a bit of background knowledge on Thea and Leith Faraday may be able to come up with questions that are personalized rather than general, but even standard questions like "What's your favorite color and why?" would be fine. I can use the more generic questions for some of the secondary characters as well.

Thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to participate, and -- fire away!

Comments

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Thea, do you have a strong religious family history? Do you personally follow it yourself? Have you examined others?

Faraday, you're a doctor of something. Was there another field that ever interested you as much as the one you're in now? Would you consider switching to another field at this point in your life? Has there ever been a point that you might have considered changing your job?

Thea, what did you think the first time you found out that other people do not have synthestetic (I made that up) perceptions? When you met other people with synthesia (argh, Firefox is not providing the correct spelling) whose perceptions do not match yours, were you surprised? What was your emotional response? How old were you when these things happened?

Farraday, are you an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner?

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

*kisses you on both cheeks*

Lovely. Thank you!

[kerravonsen]

There's this saying "Tidy desk, tidy mind"; does that apply to you, Faraday? Or are you one of those people who have a messy desk (though you know where things generally are) but a tidy mind? Do you leave your clothes on the floor, while your fishing tackle is superbly organized?

Do you like fishing? Camping? Going for long walks?

Faraday, what annoys you most about the people you work with?

What do you think of the war in Iraq? Euthenasia? The death penalty? Law and order? Drugs?

What's your favourite book?

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

What are your earliest childhood memories? Do you remember the first time you willfully did something wrong? What was it and how did you feel afterwards?

Describe your first day of school.

Who was your first crush? Why did you like him/her?


*uses what she deems to be an appropriate icon* I hope that helps! If I come up with anything else, I'll post again.

[snickelish.livejournal.com]

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up? Why?

What your biggest regret about your childhood? It can be about something "little." As a kid, I was haunted for the longest time by an occasion when someone offered me a wild blackberry, and I said I didn't want it. Anything like that?

[ljrags.livejournal.com]

What art form do you admire? Textiles? Painting? Sculpture? Music? Dance?

Do you drink alcoholic beverages?

Thea, do are you more a girly girl or a tomboy?

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I don't know - maybe because I find it at once a really easy and a really difficult question to answer: "What makes you angry?" (that's the easy part). Then, "Have you ever been really, really angry - so angry that you wanted to hit something or scream - and, if you were ever that angry, what did you do about it?" (that's the more difficult part!)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

The question I've found most useful to ask my characters is: "What are the top ten things you want?" -- and the really useful material comes from the ones they come up with toward the end of the list. For instance, one character's #10 was "a hot shower at the end of the day"; it told me more about him than all the rest of his list.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Actually, I erred. It's not the top ten things, it's just ten things. Don't get involved in hierarchies, the order in which they (you) think of them is illuminating enough.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

The only thing I know about your book is that it's about synethetes (er...spelling?), so I don't have specific questions for your characters. But one character interview I did myself involved asking a character why he acted the way he did in relationships. Which prompted a swift denial on his part (What do you mean?? I'm not leading anyone on.) Actually, I found out in that interview that he was in denial about a lot of aspects in his life. So maybe ask your characters some of those hard "why" questions that you'd never dare ask someone in real life. You know, the ones people gossip and wonder about, but can't ever pick up the courage to ask straight-out.

Have fun!

[chavelaque.livejournal.com]

What is the most important thing in life for you? Family? Money? Knowledge? Truth? Power?

And the second-most-important thing?

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

What (or who) are you most afraid of? Why?

(And no, not that fear, not the one you admit to everybody. The real one.)

Faraday, tell me about a time you were horribly disappointed in yourself. Does anybody else know about this?

Thea, have you ever had a moment when everything felt perfect? If so, when? What was it like? Was anybody else with you? Have you ever told anyone about it?

[greenumbrella.livejournal.com]

"If you could be anywhere, where would you be?" This can be tailored to your story, or purpose, some of which I have mentioned below:
...where in time would you be
...where would you rather be right now
...where would you be in life
...where would you go back to (why? To correct something, relive it?)
...where is your dream place
...where would you like to live

Those kinds of things. Hope it helps!

[elizabethcbunce.livejournal.com]

RJ, email me (link is at www.elizabethcbunce.com) and I will send you the character interview questionnaire I wrote for my SCBWI article. They only published a handful of the questions, but the complete questionnaire has around 25, I think.

I wrote it for YA/MG novelists, because the one I was using was written for contemporary adult fiction and had irrelevant questions like "how do you feel about taxes." Mine has the benefit of being equally useful for realistic or fantasy fiction.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I've e-mailed you.

("How do you feel about taxes" -- *snorts*)

Questions

[(Anonymous)]

What is the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you.

Can you swim?

Have you ever broken the law?

On holidays, do you prefer ham or turkey dinners?

Do you like camping?

What do you think is worth dying for?


Regards,
Shawn

[infiniteviking]

Thea, what do you like best about fire? What about water, earth and air?
Also, which letter of the alphabet do you find the most frightening?

Faraday, if you opened your eyes in a forest at dusk, what would you notice first and why? What about on a sidewalk? On a train?